Package



W. MEDOFF Feb. 20, 1934.

Filed Sept. 17, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l Patented Feb. 20, 1934 rackaon William Medoll', New York, N. Y., asaignor to National Cellulose Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application September 17, 1931 Serial No. 563,332

a cums. (01. 206-56) This invention relates to packages, and particularly to packages in which such articles as sanitary napkins, surgical-s. first-aid pads, and the likeare put up. I Such packages usually consist of an ordinary cardboard box of such a construction that the 'articles cannot be inspected when on sale, or removed for use, without tearing the package open, etc. or performing a number of irksome manipulations of a number of box-parts. The ordinary package of such articles is, moreover, so constructed that this inspection exposes to the eifect of the dust, etc. in the air'fe eryone of the articles in the package, and as mt of these boxes are also so constructed that they cannot be tightly closed again after opening, once opened these packages leave all the articles thereafter exposed to bacterial contamination and to entry of dust, dirt, moisture, etc., so that eventually the contents are all ruined. Again, in attempting to remove an article from one of these ordinary packages, the fingers usually contact some of the other articles, and this, particularly in hospitals, etc., gives rise tothe danger of spreading contagious diseases from one person to another.

It is an object of this invention to provide a package of articles of this character whereby the package can be opened in order to inspect the articles and ascertain their condition, texture, etc. without thereby destroying the salability of that particular package, and from which in service an article can be removed without exposing any of the other articles in the package.

It is another object of the invention to provide an improved package of this nature from which an article can be removed without the fingers contacting any of the other articles, whereby the danger of transmitting diseases in removing articles from the package will be reduced to the minimum.

A further object of the invention is to provide a package for such articles from which only one article can practicably be removed at one time, to make the use of the package economical and sparing, yet from which this article can be more easily and quickly removed than from the ordinary package.

A particular object of the invention is to provide a package which will have this improved nature and yet be relatively cheap to manufacture and sell, but withal durable and sturdy in service and safe to ship.

The presently preferred embodiment of my improved package is shown in the accompanying drawings, but the inventive concept is limited in its embodiments only by the scope of the subioined claims. r

In these drawings,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view ofthe package 60 standing upright in closed'condition;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the package manipulated to dispense an article;

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section of the package on line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross-section on line 4-4 of Fig. 1, and

5 is a plan view of the blank from which a part of the package is made.

. The package shown in the drawings comprises essentially a plurality of articles 1, and a memher 2. The articles 1 may consist of any elongated pad-like object, but preferably consist of the improved sanitary napkins described in U. S. patent application S. N. 273,907, filed April 30, 1928.

The member 2 consists preferably of a single sheet of cardboard or the like, cut as shown in Fig. 5 and creased and folded to form a hollow rectangular parallelopiped having at its bottom end, side-flaps 3 and end-flaps 4; and side-flaps 3 and a single end-flap 4' on its top end. The side-flaps 3 are united, as by gluing, over and outside the end-flaps 4, and the side-flaps 3' are united over and lie outside the single end-flap 4'.

The pads 1 are all arranged on end in the member 2, standing in parallelism on the bottom of the member 2, the greatest dimension of each pad lying parallel to the longer sides of the member 2 and coinciding with the greatest dimension thereof. The member 2 can be made of any desired size and can hence be made to contain any desired number of pads, but in the package shown, nine pads are provided.

The cardboard blank is formed with a member 4" at the upper end. This part 4 is made to lie over and outside the united side-flaps 3'.

The side-flaps 3' do not extend fully from end to end of the top of the box, but end together at a point 5 which lies at a distance from the adjacent edge equal, or approximately'equal, to the thickness of one of the articles 1. Tongues 6 are formed in the material of the member 2, and extend inwardly towards each other from opposite sides of the package, and serve to prevent the member 4" falling between the inner sides of the walls when closed, as well as guiding the pad during removal. A finger-groove 7 is also formed in the overlappin side-flaps 3'--3' to aid in removing the article.

.outer edge of member 4" by two downwardly converging lines of perforations 8, the lower ends of which are joined by a shallow'scoring 9. The member 4" therefore can be easily separated at its sides from the rest of the member 2, and once separated tends normally to fall down away from the top, clearing the top opening and leaving, except for the tabs 6, an opening 10 which exposes one of the upright pads but only about half an inch of this pad.

The free sides of the member 4- inwardly converge to form a tongue l1,'and the innermost end of this tongue is flared out into more or less resilient ears, 12. The top of the member 2 is provided with incisions.13- placed rather close together. These incisions are of such form as to define spring-tabs 13 within their bounds,

which tabs are adapted to press the ears 12 against the-top. The ears 12, due to'their resiliency, tend to spring back to fiat condition after being pressed together to insert them into the openings 13. Thus, when the member 4 is closed down on the member 2, the member 4" is held practically air-tight against the package. When the package is on display, thecontents can be inspected by simply releasing the flap 4'? from the openings 13, without tearing the perforations, and lifting it, and after inspection, reengaging it with the openings 13. Hence the package can be opened and the contents inspected without thereby, as is usual, rendering that particular unit unsalable, and the contents can be examined without exposing all the articles therein.

To remove an article, the perforations are torn, and preferably the package is then held inclined in one hand. The flap 4" falls open, and the package is then suddenly tilted or jerked considerably towards the open side, throwing the.

flap 4" down out of the way. As the pads are packed rather loosely, this tilting and jerk will also throw a pad over into the opening 10 and eject one end thereof slightly up out of the opening and above the top of the box so that it can be readily seized by the fingers above the top of the box 2. ingress of deleterious substances to the other pads is hence effectively prevented, as the other pads are left covered and protected. As the pad to be removed projects slightly above the top, there is little possibility that the fingers can contact any of the other pads. The danger of spreading a contagious disease from one patient to another is hence reduced to the minimum. When a pad is thrown into position for removal, it effectively blocks access to the other pads, and as the end-flaps are strong and securely sealed, it is not practicable to remove more than the one pad at a time, thus effectively discouraging waste, though the removal of the single pads is obviously rendered easier than in an ordinary package of this class. Due to the simplicity and ease of closing the package, keeping the package closed, and therefore sanitary, when not in use, is greatlyencouraged.

If desired, the napkins can be packed tightly in the member 2 with the free overlapping end of the gauze of one napkin frictionally engaging the plain back face of an adjacent pad, so that removing one napkin will pull the free gauze-end along with it up out of the opening 10. In this case, the napkin being interlocked and packed tightly, it is not always feasible to eject the napkins, and instead the napkins are dispensed by kin at a time.

For use in public places, suchas ladies rooms,

the package may be pivotally mounted in a holder,

or between trunnions, if desired, so that opening the package and feeding an article may both be accomplished at the same time by the single act of pulling on the member 4" to open it. Particularly for such use also, the package may include a wrapper of cellophane, placed either around the outside of the entire package, and discardable to present a perfectly clean box encouraging keeping the pads therein, or located inside the box and wrapped around the group of pads. The outside of the member 2 may be provided with a suitable decorative design quite different from that on the ordinary such package, to enhance its appearance and make the fact that the package is one for sanitary napkins less obvious.

I claim:

1. A package, comprising a plurality of articles, an envelope therefor, means in'said envelope for ejecting an article without exposing any of the other articles, and means for guiding the article while being ejected and after the inner end is out of the envelope.

' 2. A package, comprising a plurality of articles, sheet material enclosing said articles, said material having means for dispensing an article without thereby exposing any of the others, and including an opening extending partially into two adjacent sides of the package for permitting removal of articles by seizure while in the package, and by ejectment.

3. A package, comprising a plurality of articles in a stack, and sheet-material enclosing said articles, said sheet having an opening over one end of the stack permitting the ejectment of the articles, and guiding means extendible above the top of the enclosure for guiding the article out of -the package parallel to itself.

4. A package, comprising sheet-material formed into a hollow parallelopiped, a plurality of oblong articles within said parallelopiped with their faces in substantial parallelism with the respective sides of the parallelopiped, the parallelopiped having an aperture extending across one end of one of the articles, and. a closure for said aperture completing the parallelopiped when closed, said closure including means adapted to act as guides for two sides of the articles after they have emerged from said opening. 1

5. A package for dispensing sanitary articles therefrom without destroying the sterility of the rest of the articles therein, comprising sheet-material embracing and holding the articles together parallel and on end, a portion of the sheet being separated therefrom on three sides thereof, said package having an opening in registration with said portion and of a length and width equal to the width and thickness of one of said articles, whereby only one article can be removed at a time, said separated portion being separated down one of the faces of the package.

6. A package, comprising a single sheet of material formed into a hollow parallelopiped, a plurality of substantially fiat, elongated, semi-rigid articles stood on end therein and lying parallel to the longest dimension of the parallelopiped, one end of the parallelopiped having an aperture the length and width of the end of one of said articles, said aperture lying over one of said articles, and a closure for said aperture completing the top and corner of said parallelopiped when closed, and laying open part of the longitudinal extent of one side when open.

7. A package, comprising a plurality of semimes es to face, and a single sheet of semi-rigid material enveloping the objects substantially air-tight in the form of a parallelopiped, one end of the top of said parallelopiped being open above one of said objects, the adjacent side of the parallelopiped being continued up and lying over said opening, said continuation having disengageable means for engaging the top of the parallelopiped, whereby to permit the ejectment parallel to itself of only one object at a time.

8. In a package of the class described, a container having side-flaps and end-flaps on its bottom, and side-flaps united to one end-flap on its top, a top end-flap overlying the top sidefiaps, the inner end of said flap having means thereon for engaging the top of the container, said package having an aperture underlying said last fiap, and guiding means on the sides of said aperture extending above the top of the container.

9. In a package of the class described, a container, said container having side-flaps and endfiaps at its bottom and side-flaps united to one end-flap at its top, a top end-flap overlying the top side-flaps, the inner end of said overlying top end-flap having lateral projections thereon and the top of the container having apertures for receiving said projections to hold the flap closed.

10. In a package of the class described, a container, said container having vside-fiaps and endflaps at its bottom and side-flaps united to one end-flap at its top, a top end-flap overlying the united top-side flaps, the side of the container bearing this flap having downwardly converging incisions therein, a shallow scoring connecting the lower ends of said incisions, the sides of said flap tapering convergently toward the inner end thereof to form a tongue, transversely extending cars at the inner extremity of said tongue, and the top of the container having apertures therein for receiving said ears.

11. In a package of the class described, a container having side-flaps and end-flaps on its bottom, and side-flaps united to one end-flap on its top, the top side-flaps ending short of one edge of the package a distance equal to the thickness of one of the articles in the package, a tongue on each side of the container extending into the opening thereby formed, a top end-flap overlying the top side-flaps and covering the aperture formed in the package by said curtailed top side-flaps, and means for engaging the inner end of said top end-flap with the container.

12. A carton blank, comprising sections scored to form the wide and narrow sides of a carton, separated fiaps at one end to fold in overthe carton structure, the blank at the other end being formed with side flaps and end flaps, one end flap being extended downwardly into the body of the blank more than it extends outwardly from the body of the blank and the side flaps being shorter than those at the other end of the blank, the said end flap being adapted to overlie the side flaps when the blank is folded.

13. A carton blank, comprising sections scored to form the wide and narrow sides of a carton,

frangibly connected to the body of the blank at one end and having means for engasins one of the adjacent side flaps.

14. A carton blank, comprising sections scored to form the wide and narrow sides of a carton, separated flaps at one end to fold in over the carton structure, the blank at the other. end being formed with side flaps and end flaps, one end flap being extended downwardly into the body of being attached to said-envelope for part of its.

sides, one end being hinged to the envelope down one face thereof, the other end being releasably engageable'with the envelope over the said opening, whereby the contents may be inspected, by swinging said releasably engageable-part on said crease, without exposing them all. v

16. A blank, comprising a sheet of material having scoring defining the vertical side faces of a box; scoring and incisions defining ordinary end flaps and ordinary side flaps for the bottom thereof; and a scoring and an incision defining one end flap for the top; another scoring, said incision, and a concave incision defining one of the side flaps for the top; said top side-flap having spaced, convergent apertures therein with one edge thereof made resilient; scoring and another concave incision defining the other top side-flap; said top side-flaps ending short of the bottom side flaps; and scoring and cut-lines defining a top end-flap adapted to overlie the other top flaps, the configuration of said cut-lines defining a neck having ears adapted to engage in said resilient-edged aperture.

17. A blank, comprising a sheet of material having scoring defining the vertical sides of a box; scoring and incisions defining ordinary end flaps and ordinary side flaps for the bottom thereof; a scoring and an incision defining one end flap for the top; .another scoring, said incision, and a concave incision defining one of the side flaps for the top, said top side-flap having spaced, convergent apertures therein with one edge thereof made resilient; scoring and another concave incision defining the other top side-flap, said top side-flaps ending short of the bottom side flaps; and scoring and cut-lines defining a top end-flap adapted to overlie the other top flaps, the configuration of said cut-lines defining a neck having ears adapted to engage in said resilientedged apertures; and downwardly convergent incisions extending from said top end-flap scoring down one side portion of the blank.

18. A blank, comprising a-sheet of material having scoring defining the vertical side faces of a box; scoring and incisions defining ordinary end flaps and ordinary side flaps for the bottom thereof; a scoring and an incision defining one end flap for the top; another scoring, said incision, and a concave incision defining one of 166 flap; said top side-flaps ending short of the botm tom side-flaps, and scoring and cut-lines defining a top end-flap adapted to overlie the other top flaps the configuration of said cut-lines defining a neck having ears adapted to engage in said resilient-edged aperturesyand incisions and cutlines defining a stub-flap extending outwardly at right angles to the body of the blank between each of the top side-flaps and said top end: pv 19. A package comprising a plurality of articles, an envelope therefor, means for dispensing an article without exposing the others, means for restoring the package 'to substantially airtight WILLIAM MEDOFF. 

